A Little Misadventure
by Tigereyes45
Summary: This is a coffee shop AU story surrounding the main characters of Hawke and Varric. It was written a while ago for the hightown funk challenge where I was asked to fit in as many characters from as many different games as possible. Let me know if you find them all.


Aliss Hawke woke up from a wonderful dream to a feeling of dread. At first she thought it had something to do with Bethany until she saw her little sister, and roommate, was up already brewing tea for herself. Then she thought maybe she was late for work but the shop wouldn't open for another hour. So she decided that the feeling was for naught and she simply ate too much sugar before bed last night.

Now she was in her barista outfit and in front of the store. Only there was something off. Looking around she could not see Varric Tethras anywhere. Every morning the author was there waiting to be let in before ordering his coffee and writing away for the day. He was Hawke's favorite customer and her best tipper.

"Look who beat me here again." Came the chipper voice of Kaiden. He was a newbie on their staff but he was learning quickly. Anders like keeping him on the morning staff for he had a way to deal with all the grumpy customers. Somehow he always got them to smile. "Bethany not with you today?"

"She's on the night shift tonight. So there'll be a Hawke here all day for everyone's enjoyment."

"I'm sure Sebastian and Nathaniel will enjoy that."

"Are they still hitting on her, Kaiden?"

"And ignoring each other."

Aliss sighs and starts cleaning the counter as Kaiden begins to refill the stock. The bell hanging on the door chimes and it official means their day has begun. The first customers were old Shepard and Vakarian. They paid for their black coffees as well as four others with varying amounts of cream and sugar in them, then left. After them there wasn't another regular for awhile. Business was still running though and they were swamped a couple of times until the owner Anders came in for his shift and started helping out.

Aliss was about to clock out for her lunch break when Anders told her she could take a twenty minute break instead of just a ten minute one today. She smiles and leaves, returning later with her dunkin donuts from the store that was a block over. The store had died down now and there were only one or two customers within. Aliss looks around and realizes Varric still wasn't there. She sits across from his usual seat at the table they always sit at when she would go on break.

Kaiden was washing the tables while she ate and notices she was alone today. "Where's your writer friend?" he asks as she lifts her drink up to let him wipe the table down.

"I don't know. He's always here at opening but for the last few days he just hasn't been here." She sets her drink down. "I'm thinking of investigating into it."

Kaiden laughs. "Surely it can't be that serious. Maybe he just found a new place to get coffee or he could have moved."

Aliss nods. "True or he could be sick. Or even dead."

"Well if you want to look at it grimly."

"I'll look into it and let you know what I find Kaiden. Looks like my break is over."

When six o'clock came around Daisy and Rosalina came in and took over allowing Aliss and Kaiden to leave. "You need a ride home tonight?" Kaiden offers as they cross the street.

"Nah, I'll walk home tonight. Bethany will be on her way here soon anyways so I'll tell her hi when we cross paths."

"Alright stay safe Hawke."

"I will. Good night Kaiden."

Hawke starts walking but she heads in the opposite direction of her home. "If I remember correctly he lives on Redburry St." She mutters to herself as she pulls up the address on her phone. One time he had emailed it to her so she could send back a few manuscripts he had given to her before she left on a vacation. He could be on vacation but she doubted that. Varric didn't like anything but people, his coffee, and his regular cafe. He could complain about any and everything else as if he was a world class critique of it.

Aliss smiles as she finds the road. Now she just had to find the email with his address. She was sure it was here somewhere. "Ah found it!" She accidentally shout aloud. She wraps a hand over her mouth before smiling again happily. He lived at the Hanging apartments in room 298. Sounds like a place where dead people live.

Aliss shakes the thought from her head and walks down the street until she finds it. It was a worn down apartment building that didn't have any visible holes in it but had clearly not been taken care of properly since it had been built. Paint was chipping off of it and twobof the windows were broken on the floor above her. Hopefully those weren't Varroc's windows.

Walking inside Aliss puts all of her stuff away within her bag. She looks around abd takes in the whole lobby as she treads closer to the desk.

"Hello how may I help you?" A man sitting in a lab coat asks. His name tag read ratman.

"Can you tell me what floor room 298 is on? I'm visiting a friend here for the first time."

"Sure. Fourth floor." Ratman answers as he puts away the newspaper for a book instead.

Hawke climbs into the elevator and hits the button. She checks her bag to make sure the muffins she brought weren't squished. She brought two blackberry because those were the ones he usually got. When the doors open Aliss quickly steps out of them and walks around. It took thirty minutes for her to admit that she couldn't find the room. When she made it back to the elevators Aliss sighs and hits her head against them. How could it be this hard?

"Lost?"

Aliss Hawke looks up to see a taller man standing there. She goes back to hitting her head. "Yeah, I'm looking for my friend's place. It's 298 but I can't find it."

"Did Ratman tell you it was up here?"

"Yes."

"That's why. Apartment 298 is on the second floor. Ratman likes to misdirect people. It's just what he does."

"So I'm off by two floors?"

"Yes."

"Great. At least I know now. My name is Aliss by the way."

"Altair. I'm guessing you're looking for the short guy since you're going to his apartment."

"Yes."

"Well good luck." Altair says nonchalantly.

"Thanks Altair." Hawke leaves him in the elevator and chooses to run down the stairs instead.

When Hawke finally manages to find it she was out of breath. Knocking on the door she leans back and tries to catch it. There was no answer. So she waited for a couple if minutes before knocking again. Still no answer. "Varric?"

"Hawke?" She heard him reply.

"Yes."

"What are you doing here?" He asks and she could hear him unlocking the door.

"You haven't been to the cafe lately. I came to check up on my favorite customer." She answers with a large smile. He laughs.

"Well he wasn't expecting a vist from his favorite local barista."

"What can I say. I'm unpredictable."

"That you are. Come on in." He moves aside to allow her indoors.

She steps inside and sees a room covered in papers. "Writing?"

"I've been trying to. Having trouble coming up with any decent stories." He admits as he clears off the table.

"Is that why I haven't seen you around lately?"

"Yeah." His voice sounded kind of sore. "I kind of forgot there were other places to write besides just at home. Easier to toss paper around here as well. At the cafe I can't toss my laptop around. Probably best I can't either or else it would have been replaced by now."

Aliss smiles. "So it's just been because of writer's block?"

"Yes."

"Well that's easy enough to fix."

"Oh really now."

"Don't worry Varric. With me around you'll see how fast the interesting ideas hit you."


End file.
